Houston Catastrophic Injury Lawyer

Some injuries heal completely and allow you to continue your life much as before. While a broken bone, for example, may hurt and the cast may be inconvenient, you may recover within a few weeks and get back to work and sports activities. If you have a compound fracture requiring surgery and the placement of hardware (e.g., plates and screws) in your body, you may experience life-altering pain and mobility issues for months, years, or permanently. This is a catastrophic injury.

If you have suffered any life-altering injury, you may wish to contact a catastrophic injury lawyer in Houston to find out whether you have a claim or options for seeking financial recovery. In many cases, it is a challenge to predict the many ways a permanent or long-term injury can affect your medical bills, earning potential, and life. 

A Houston catastrophic injury attorney may be able to help you evaluate the injury and suggest ways you can secure fair compensation, so you don’t have to deal with the pain of the injury as well as high financial losses by yourself. If you have been injured and would like to know more about what you can do, you can always contact Johnson Garcia for a free consultation. 

What Is a Catastrophic Injury?

Many injuries can seem disastrous if they cause severe pain, loss of income, high medical bills, and other challenges. However, catastrophic injuries specifically refer to injuries where the timeline for recovery may be long and in some cases, the effects of the injury can be permanent. These types of injuries include:

• Amputation. Losing a finger, foot, arm, toe, or other limb can affect your mobility and appearance. Amputations can also be expensive injuries, sometimes requiring physical and occupational therapy, counseling, medication, prosthetics, and other costly supports. 
• Back injury and spinal cord injury. A slipped disc or chronic back pain can affect a person’s ability to care for themselves or dependents, can impact work time, and can cause severe depression. Ongoing pain management for back pain can be complex and expensive. A spinal cord injury can paralyze a person’s four limbs or can cause paralysis from the waist down. In either case, it is life-altering to not be able to use parts of one’s own body.
• Burns. Burn injuries can permanently affect a person’s appearance and sense of self, but burns that affect the muscles, tendons, and tissues deep under the skin can also cause mobility challenges and disability, too.
• Brain Injury. Traumatic brain injury can occur in motor vehicle accidents, in slip and fall accidents, during sports play, in the workplace, or in any incident where a person’s head impacts with a solid surface. When a person’s head hits a hard surface, the brain can bounce around inside the skull, where it can swell, bleed, bruise, and otherwise sustain damage to brain tissue. This can lead to life-changing symptoms, such as cognitive problems, loss of memory, vision loss, and other serious issues. 

Catastrophic injuries can not only affect every area of your life, from relationships to mobility, but they can be extremely expensive, affecting your financial life for years to come. A serious spinal cord injury resulting in High Tetraplegia can cost an average of $4,724,181 over the lifetime of a patient while brain injury patients can spend an average of $85,000 to over $3 million during a lifetime for medical costs alone.

How Do They Commonly Happen?

Life-altering injuries happen every day and can affect anyone, though they are even more dangerous to seniors and to those with other health concerns. Catastrophic injuries may occur without warning and from many types of incidents, including:

• Slip and fall accidents. A simple slip and fall or trip and fall accident can lead to a serious traumatic brain injury, soft tissue injury, broken bones, spinal cord trauma, and even fatalities. Elderly persons are especially vulnerable to hip fractures and fatal injuries, but anyone can hit their head when falling and suffer a life-threatening injury.
• Car accidents. Traffic crashes are a leading cause of life-changing injuries. The force and impact of a collision can easily lead to amputations, crushing injuries, internal organ injuries, permanent scarring, and another serious injury.
• Truck accidents. The size and force of commercial trucks mean they can cause serious injuries to other users of the road in a collision. While truck drivers are not seriously injured often, the occupants of other motor vehicles can be crushed or seriously injured.
• Workplace accidents. For many employees, going to work can be one of the most dangerous parts of the day. From office environments to manufacturing plants, every workplace has its hazards, including exposure to dangerous substances, heavy machinery, and other dangers.
• Drilling rig accidents. In Texas, the oil and gas industries are an essential part of the economy, and many workers find employment on drilling rigs. The hard-working employees who work in these environments often face considerable hazards, including exposure to toxic and flammable substances, work at heights, and heavy machinery. Accidents can easily occur in such a workplace.
• Maritime accidents. If you work on a marine vessel off the coast of Texas, you may work in some of the most dangerous conditions in the state. This type of work can involve working with heavy machinery and employment in extreme conditions, which can put you at risk of falls from heights, amputations, crushing injuries, and other serious injuries.
• Oilfield injuries. Texas has an estimated 321,304 services workers in the oil-field sector, and these employees work in hazardous conditions around heavy machinery, chemicals, tall heights, moving vehicles, and other dangers, often outdoors and even in severe weather conditions. In this environment, workplace injuries can easily occur.
• Construction accidents. Construction sites are fast-moving sites with heavy machinery operators, vehicles, pedestrians, and others all working together. These sites have many hazards, including falls from heights, crushing injuries, and exposure injuries, to name just a few.
• Offshore accidents. If you’ve been seriously injured offshore, the regulations and laws are different than for other workplace accidents and you may wish to consult with a Houston maritime catastrophic injury attorney to explore your options.

While serious injuries can happen in many ways, the claims process can be significantly different, depending on how you have sustained your injury. If you have been injured in a car accident, for example, you will likely be dealing with car insurance providers or with another driver, who may have been negligent. If you have been hit by a company car, there may be multiple liable parties, including the owner of the truck and the driver. If you have been injured on an offshore oil rig, you may wish to consult with a Houston offshore catastrophic injury lawyer because your claim may involve complex maritime law.

What Can Survivors Face in Terms of Recovery and Damages?

The recovery process from a serious injury can be intensive. Patients may need immediate emergency medical care or a hospital stay. Long-term, they may need to visit specialists, manage pain, and may require support such as occupational therapy, physical therapy, and counseling. Those who have been injured may also need to make long-term changes in their lives. They may need to change jobs to accommodate new mobility limits, for example, or may need to renovate their homes or retrofit their cars to accommodate a permanent injury.

This process of recovery can take months or years and it’s important for those who have been injured to seek financial recovery, if they qualify, for current as well as expected future medical costs and other losses. Someone who has been injured may face higher medical insurance costs in the future, ongoing medical complications and costs, and potentially reduced income options. Seeking compensation can help with these and other costs.  

What Kind of Legal Recompense May Be Available?

Every injury claim is different and the recovery possible can vary widely, depending on the severity of the injury, its expected impact on your life, the details of the incident leading to the injury, the liable parties involved, the laws impacting your case, and other factors. One factor which can also impact your recovery is the experience of your catastrophic injury attorney in Houston. An experienced attorney knows how to seek fair financial recovery for clients and knows what strategies defendants use to try to limit their liability.

If you have questions about your potential damages, you may wish to speak to a catastrophic injury attorney in Houston. An attorney can evaluate your current and future costs for an accurate accounting of how much your claim may be worth. 

How Can Having an Experienced Attorney in Your Corner Help?

An experienced catastrophic injury lawyer in Houston can seek compensation for your injury if your injury was caused by negligence. Your attorney can take care of all the details, from filing the paperwork to building a strong case. He or she will negotiate to get the best possible recovery in your situation.

In some cases, having an experienced attorney is especially important. If you have been injured offshore or on a marine vessel, for example, your injury claim may be affected by maritime law or the Jones Act. You will want to speak with a Houston maritime catastrophic injury lawyer, who is experienced with such claims and with the Jones Act. A general personal injury attorney may not be well-versed in these laws well enough to help with your claim.

Why Johnson Garcia?

If you are looking for a catastrophic injury attorney, Houston County has many options, including Johnson Garcia. Our legal team has over 30 years of combined experience, and we are bilingual in both English and Spanish. 

We have a client-focused practice that creates a warm and welcoming environment where we can focus on your needs. Our reviews from our clients and our track record speak for themselves. We also have extensive experience with the Jones Act and with maritime law in personal injury cases.

If you have suffered a serious injury or need a Houston maritime catastrophic injury attorney because you have suffered an offshore injury, do not hesitate to contact Johnson Garcia for a free consultation.